Edgewater Council: Send Police Department Complaints To Chief

November 24, 1985|By Pat LaMee of The Sentinel Staff

EDGEWATER — Complaints about the police department should be taken to Police Chief Lawrence Schumaker and not to city officials, a council majority has decided. Schumaker, who has completed half of his six-months probation, responded Thursday to complaints of lack of response to calls for police assistance. Mayor Earl Baugh said he has received three complaints since the middle of October.

But Schumaker said getting the information three or four weeks after a problem occurred didn't help solve the matter. He asked that complaints be made in a timely manner and documented in writing so he could deal with them. In one incident cited by Baugh, Schumaker explained that an officer made a mistake by not contacting bank officials after he searched for a man they said had left their building.

A call from the bank Nov. 6 described a man who had left after officials took a stolen safety deposit box key from him, Schumaker said. The police officer searched a nearby shopping center and highway and then went on to other calls, Schumaker said.

Bank officials complained to Baugh but never called police to discuss the incident or to tell the dispatcher the man had returned to their building, Schumaker said.